Why Farms & Farm Machinery Says: “Quality and experience behind Now Buildings’ success”

This article was originally published by TradeFarmMachinery.com.au. Republished here with permission.

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Quality and experience behind Now Buildings’ success

Thousands of happy customers cannot be wrong – and Now Buildings has almost two decades worth of reviews to back up the quality of its rural sheds

There is no substitute for either quality or experience, and rural shed manufacturer Now Buildings has an abundance of both these traits.

Producing top-quality, Australian-made sheds that last – and ensuring its customers are looked after – are unwavering values for Now Buildings.

Even the company’s origin story speaks to these values.

“I’ve been in the industry for about 30 years and I used to own half of a very large shed company which I sold in 2006,” Now Buildings director Trevor Walker says.

“The reason I sold out is because although it was a good company, I wanted to do things better.

“I wanted to do things where the customers were put first, and that is something we don’t take lightly.

“From our point of view, it is crucial that we exceed the customers’ expectations in every single thing in the whole chain.”

As Now Buildings nears 20 years in operation, this approach has helped the company grow its annual turnover from $2 million to over $30 million and develop a list of thousands of happy customers along the way.

Farmer’s mate

Now Buildings is not a residential shed builder who looks to simply increase the size of its products to accommodate farm machinery.

It is exclusively a rural shed manufacturer who knows that Australia’s farmers work in some of the harshest conditions imaginable and need sheds to match.

Made using BlueScope steel – something which has been the case since the company’s inception – these are locally-made sheds specifically designed for rural Australia.

Another benefit of the company’s established presence in the market is having access to a strong network of shed builders it can draw upon when required, wherever the job may be.

“We have a network of 25 full time independent builders, and we don’t charge anything on top of their costs which means the customer saves money,” Walker says.

“We’ve also got about the same number again in part time builders and this gives us excellent building coverage right across the country.

“We also train the builders to make sure that customers are getting the very best quality in that regard as well.”

Now Buildings is a wholesale company which deals exclusively with ABN holders – which Walker says virtually all farmers are – and this enables final costs to be kept down.

While providing cost-effective sheds is something the company prides itself on, the ultimate guiding principle is to build top quality products that last.

Building nous

Quality materials combined with expert design and building help to explain what sets the company’s sheds apart.

All Now Buildings sheds use high tensile bolts and Class 4 fasteners, with gutters and downpipes included.

The expert team provides site-specific engineering from an independent structural engineer, heavy duty connection and footing design, along with using high-grade industrial strength materials throughout.

“The biggest difference with us is there’s no compromise on quality,” Walker says.

“Customers are going to end up with a fantastic product that they’re proud of and they’ll be raving about how good it is.

“Our screws are a grade above everybody else. We use Grade 4 screws which can go right up close to salt or oceans and it doesn’t rust or degrade.

“It’s the same with the high tensile galvanised bolts – your whole building is held together by these components and if those components aren’t good, your whole building is useless. “Our double bracket footing system are not the cheapest options but they’re the best.

“We are proud of the product and we won’t compromise.”

To know how to construct a top quality shed, it is necessary to know where the shed is most vulnerable and which sections need the most attention.

Walker says there are three main areas of vulnerability that Now Buildings focuses on, to ensure its sheds withstand the test of time in any conditions.

The first point is the base of the shed, right at the footings.

“We have a heavy-duty hot dip galvanised footing bracket that goes down into the concrete,” Walker says.

“There’s reinforcement in that footing that bends over the top of it, so we have never lost a shed being pulled out of the footings out of many, many thousands. It’s the strongest footing system in the country.”

The next most vulnerable point is the eaves, Walker says, and Now Buildings has a two-fold approach to eliminating any issues there.

“We have that double bracketing system folding through both sides and we also have a series of high structural Tek screws go in so there can’t be any movement in the bolt holes,” he says.

“Then we close up the Purlin spacings on the roof and the walls when it gets close to that corner and then we screw off both the roof sheets and the wall sheds for the same Purlin, creating an enormous bracing through the shed.”

The third point is the shed’s apex – and Walker says a bolted double bracketing system, along with closing up the Purlin spacings, ensures it is impossible for the wind to pull the shed apart.

Another point of difference with Now Buildings sheds is an open gable end which avoids knee braces, something which removes difficulties in storing tall machinery commonly used on Australian farms.

Genuine service

Beyond just the rock-solid design of the sheds, Now Buildings has built a reputation for its customer service.

The company can build sheds anywhere in Australia, with one recent project being around a basketball court at an indigenous community near Uluru.

Its network of builders meant this was a straightforward job, while Walker knows the importance of getting things right the first time.

“If you send out wrong components to that, and the builders have travelled a long way to build it, it’s a disaster,” he says.

Much of Now Buildings’ success – and the reason why thousands of customers are enjoying their sheds – can be traced back to the fact the company genuinely cares.

“We started this as a family and we wanted something where we could sleep at night knowing that we were proud of it,” Walker says.

“We also wanted something where we would get an unprecedented amount of return business from it, and we have.

“Repeat business is very high, referrals are through the roof. We’ve got many hundreds of customers writing into us and thanking us for the quality of the material and also the quality of the service.

“From our point of view, we want to put a product out there 100 per cent of the time that we’re proud of.

“We’re proud of what we do. This is how we wanted to run the company and this is the way we’ve grown our business.”

Now Buildings’ products can be viewed online at https://shed.sale/FFM or calling on 1300 491 839.

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